Chapter 145

Heller behind the desk kept smoking, almost one after another.

Not necessarily every one had to be smoked down to the end; perhaps it was like that at first.

But soon, for each one, he would take at most three or four, four or five puffs, wait for the cigarette to slowly burn out between his fingers, and then stub it out in the ashtray.

If he didn't hold something in his hand, he would have a feeling of insecurity.

At this time, cigarettes not only represent a... consumer good, but also a psychological placebo.

"There shouldn't be any accidents, right?"

"With so many of us?"

He looked at the other two confidants in the office; one was sitting, one was standing. The guy standing confirmed Heller's point, "There won't be any accidents, Boss."

"Although I don't want to admit it, I have to admit that the people on our side are professional gangsters; the bad things they've done are enough to make one's scalp tingle."

"And what about our opponents?"

"A small group composed of former dock workers who can just barely make a living; they are simply no match for us."

"I don't deny that there might be some tough characters among them, but Boss, the toughness of a few people might be useful in small-scale conflicts, but in this kind of large-scale gang war, it actually has no meaning."

"So we are sure to win."

These simple analytical words catered very well to Heller's mood at this moment. A trace of a smile appeared on his face, but he felt it wasn't good to smile before victory, so he put on a straight face again.

Another confidant whispered, "Now, instead of considering whether they can win, we should consider the follow-up issues of Red Heels."

"Red Heels has established a channel for us and the Bay Area; it must be in our hands."

"But you saw it, the other three people also seem to want Red Heels very much; how to reasonably put it into our basket will be a problem."

The purpose of the three senior cadres rushing to go on duty tonight was under the slogan of "avenging Liam."

After they killed Lanse and the Lanse Family, they could demand that Heller take over some of Liam's industries.

As loyal gang members, they could give up all of Liam's industries except for Red Heels, and the dilemma would shift to Heller's side.

When Liam started the Red Heels Club before, actually, no one was optimistic about this business of his.

New Jincheng has a population of over a million, and at least tens of thousands of people are engaged in similar work—

Not necessarily everyone engaged in such work is a prostitute; the federal government's definition of a prostitute is "must have sexual intercourse," so it is legal for many strip clubs to put oral sex on the menu.

Because this is not a transaction, and as long as it is not a transaction, these ladies are not prostitutes; they are just... dancers, or beer girls.

Of course, some people will engage in transactional behavior, but most are not in such legal and formal occasions, but in any case, whether legal or illegal, it is saturated here.

The business of the poor is hard to do; it is said that in the Xilin District, there are even fifty-cent oral services, and it's an old person, teeth all gone, just to earn some living expenses.

The business of the rich is also hard to do; they all need the most excellent girls in all aspects, and these girls are hard to take the initiative to do this business.

Current federal women are still relatively conservative.

No one thought that Liam could find a different new track, using the satisfaction of all the rich people's perverted desires as a means, and successfully made some progress in the Bay Area.

"Agent Liam" is how people in the Bay Area perceive Liam; he can get some special girls who can withstand the venting of any impulse and desire, as long as your money is enough!

Red Heels represents not only the ability to make money, but also connections.

Heller, who was thinking about how to embrace Red Heels, hadn't figured out a good way when the sound of a truck rang out outside the window.

He quickly got up and walked to the window; when he saw these people getting off the car, he already had some ominous premonitions.

When the three senior cadres returned to the office with long faces, Heller knew that this matter had been botched.

He looked at these people, his eyes a bit grim, but blocked by tea-colored sunglasses; they couldn't see the fierceness and panic in his eyes at this time.

"So, what exactly happened?"

One of the senior cadres held a wine glass and took a big gulp of wine, "They were prepared, and they had very sufficient firearms and ammunition."

"They hid in the room and blocked the doors and windows; it was very difficult for us to attack.", he hiccuped, "A dozen guns aimed at the door; whoever goes in dies!"

"Later we used incendiary bombs, wanting to force them out; in fact, we succeeded, and they fled into the back alley."

"Their resistance was very stubborn, unlike anyone we've seen before, a bit... like a big family; the most critical thing is that their ammunition was very sufficient."

"We kept exchanging fire, but we couldn't get in; the police station didn't allow us to use bombs, so we could only fight hard..."

Openly using bombs in the city... well, the big families of the Federation often do this, but to do so, there must be a prerequisite.

Either you have enough status to ignore these rules and do what you want to do.

Or you have to be crazy enough to trample on all the rules and the rule-makers.

The former might be one of the rule-makers themselves, while the latter will be besieged by everyone.

The Camila Gang is neither the former nor the latter; they must follow some potential rules.

Heller heard this and already knew the result; the cadre shrugged, "We set fire to their house, the fire was spreading to the surroundings, we couldn't take it down for a long time, the fire was spreading too fast, they had to intervene..."

If they didn't intervene, it might cause a wider range of fire; in this period dominated by brick and wood structures, once a fire spreads, there is no chance of rescue at all.

And the Triangle District is adjacent to the Bay Area; they couldn't allow the fire to pose any threat to the Bay Area, so when the fire started to have a trend of spreading, it was equivalent to ending this gang fight early.

"So, you actually didn't kill Lanse, and didn't kill many people?", Heller asked, suppressing his anger and suppressing his emotions.

Maybe Lanse... died?

The three senior cadres looked at each other with gray faces and shook their heads, "Don't know."

"Maybe he was unlucky...", someone said.

But soon he shut his mouth under Heller's glare.

One of Heller's confidant senior cadres suddenly stood up, "You all said you wanted to avenge Liam, rushing to deal with the Lanse Family; the Boss gave you a chance because you were so active."

"But this is what you return to the Boss?"

"Just like this, how can the gang hand over Red Heels to you to operate?"

The three wanted to say something, but now they could only have nothing to say; the Red Heels, which was originally a bit troublesome, returned to Heller's hands like this; does it seem to be a good thing?

But this still couldn't suppress Heller's anger!

"I spent 140,000 to 150,000 tonight, and I don't even know how much pension I have to pay your subordinates, but you tell me you got nothing?"

"Now the whole New Jincheng is fucking watching me make a fool of myself!", he slapped the table hard; he wanted to slap it a few more times, but his hand hurt a bit, so he gave up.

There was not a sound in the huge office; the three senior cadres hung their heads and didn't speak; they also felt very aggrieved.

Someone provided Lanse with so many weapons and bullets; in this situation where it is easy to defend and hard to attack, even if Heller went himself, it would be useless.

★co

Not to mention in the battle in the back alley, both sides kept exchanging fire; whoever rushed in died.

If the fire hadn't spread too fast, they thought they would still have a chance to wipe out the Lanse Family.

But the problem is here: if a fire didn't happen, they couldn't force Lanse and his group out of the house.

But as long as incendiary bombs were used, there would inevitably be a countdown; this is a dead loop!

Heller was so angry he paced back and forth; money was spent, things weren't done well, and he turned himself into a circus clown.

He could already foresee that tomorrow someone would think of ways to call and mock him; what's more fatal is that this failure meant that his control over the Imperials in the Imperial District began to decline!

His chest hurt a bit; every time he got angry, it would ache faintly, but the hospital didn't check out any situation; the doctor just prescribed him a medicine that was said to relieve symptoms.

He opened the drawer and stared at these cadres with cold eyes, took out the small medicine bottle, took one out, threw it into his mouth and chewed it, then swallowed it.

"In a short time, they won't allow us to open fire again; first guard our own territory, and then continue to fucking find out what these people are doing every day; when the New Year comes, I want to wipe them all out!"

During the New Year, the federal locals will be very relaxed, and there won't be too many police officers on duty in the police station; he decided to make it a fait accompli this time, and then consider other problems.

As long as he solves Lanse and the Lanse Family, he and his Camila Gang will still be an unshakable force in the Imperial District.

Even if the city's managers are a bit dissatisfied with this, they will continue to tolerate him.

Because the existence of the Camila Gang makes these Imperials in the Imperial District extra obedient; this is the art of management.

They never deal with these immigrants themselves; this would make them lose votes, and the image is not very good, but they will support some forces in the dark to help them do this.

Obedient gangs help them solve the disobedient underclass, while maintaining social stability; when they need political achievements or need to appease the underclass whose emotions are dissatisfied to the extreme, they pick out a batch to lock up or kill, and all contradictions are solved.

This is why, even though the benefits eventually ended up in the pockets of the masters, the people hated the lackeys who didn't get many benefits the most.

The art of ruling is nothing more than this!

As long as Heller, this lackey, is still useful, although the masters don't like him, considering he is useful, they will continue to use him.

The cadres didn't dare to say anything more, afraid of stimulating Heller, and left one after another.

Looking at the tens of thousands left on the table, after everyone left, Heller erupted in an angry and unwilling roar, so angry that he even threw his sunglasses.

So much so that the next day he changed to a pair of black sunglasses, and everyone was a bit unaccustomed to it.

At ten o'clock in the morning, in the news hall of the city police station, the Assistant Chief spoke righteously under the camera flashes about the thrilling gang fight that happened in the Triangle District last night—

"We found a total of forty-three corpses at the scene, arrested seventeen surviving gang members, five of whom were seriously injured, and two died after being sent to the hospital for rescue."

"New Jincheng's attitude toward gangs has always been to resolutely crack down, resolutely eradicate; find one case, eliminate one case, and never be lenient."

"We will continue to follow up on whether there are more situations based on the clues we have obtained; any new news will be notified to everyone as soon as possible..."

Before his voice ended, countless people raised their hands to ask questions; the constant flashing of camera flashes made him feel very good.

After answering the questions of several reporters and promising to give these surviving gang members the most severe punishment possible, the Assistant Chief strode away from here.

Chief Chali doesn't have many years left to work, so the next step is to choose between him and another Assistant Chief, choosing someone to take over.

In fact, as of now, there is not much actual power difference between the Chief of the City Police Station and the Assistant Chief.

The Assistant Chief is just a position that assists the Chief and presides over daily work.

Chief Chali comes at ten o'clock in the morning, sleeps for two hours at noon, and leaves on time at five o'clock in the afternoon; what can he do, and how much can he do?

Almost all of it is done by the two Assistant Chiefs.

But it is just a gap in position; Chief Chali did nothing and took thirty thousand.

He ran around and had to bear certain risks, and only took fifteen thousand.

Why not keep climbing up?

Now every time he is in the limelight, it means his position is one step closer!

The news soon fermented throughout the city; although the media and newspapers blocked some key words and blurred some names and situations, people still had ways to inquire everywhere that the gang fight last night was between the Imperial Camila Gang and the Lanse Family, which had just been established not long ago and was active in the Triangle District and the Port District.

Now even ordinary people can't help but be curious about Lanse and the Lanse Family.

Near noon, Lanse woke up from his deep sleep; he rubbed his head; the office was already open; many people came to ask what happened today, but the main members were not there; they didn't know the situation, and some people's hearts were floating.

As for the financial consulting company, it was completely burned down; the large amount of paper materials inside caused Lanse heavy losses.

Cash, some mortgage materials—how much exactly, he would have to estimate before knowing.

Waking up from a sleep, he felt a little more comfortable; after checking on the other injured people to make sure they didn't have any accidents, he came to the restaurant.

Two girls were sitting there withered; seeing Lanse come down, they stood up immediately.

Lanse waved his hand to let them sit down, found a seat himself, and got some food on his plate.

The food was actually delicious; having gotten rid of the hat of poverty, they wouldn't eat only the cheapest food every day like in the past.

Beef, eggs, bacon, cheese, ham...

But eating these things at this time was like chewing wax.

"You got up so early; didn't you sleep?", Lanse asked casually, just like a normal morning, eating breakfast while making small talk.

Both girls shook their heads, "We slept for a while, and then we couldn't sleep."

The exchange of fire last night was the most dangerous and intense one Lanse and they had experienced since coming here.

It's normal not to be able to sleep; everyone had walked on the edge of life and death.

"Have you eaten?", Lanse asked again.

"Ate."

"No appetite."

Two completely different answers; Lanse put down his knife and fork and sighed, "I will avenge them."

The girls didn't say anything, just stayed silently.

After waiting for twenty minutes or so, everyone woke up one after another, and after eating something, they gathered in the living room, including the injured people.

"I thought about it for a long time last night, and I found that I made a mistake."

"I have always felt that this society has a bottom line."

"Just like we can't do some things that obviously violate the law; I don't mean we can't do them, but we can't do them casually."

"After all, that is breaking the law, destroying social public order and morality, and cannot exist under the sun."

"Just like... shadows will never be bigger than light."

"But now, I understand; sometimes shadows can not only be as big as light, but even cover the light!"

"Under the appearance of all civilized norms are the most primitive and barbaric survival laws, as well as flexible bottom lines."

"We lost, but we didn't lose to Heller and his Camila Gang, nor did we lose because we weren't vigilant enough about these things; we lost to this damn rule that we don't understand."

Everyone was listening quietly to what Lanse said; some might have listened in a daze, but some understood.

Just like the gang fight last night, the police actually stopped them from leaving and would let those people come over and fight them.

But if you say these police... are all bad and are targeting them, yet when they left afterwards, they didn't stop them!

Just let them go like that.

Who the fuck could have thought of this?

For them, especially for Lanse who had experienced a relatively civilized and orderly society, evil would dissolve under the "light."

But how could he have thought that these two natural enemies could actually fucking merge together, just for more convenient ruling?

Or rather, those controls over rulers and order in another world made him ignore the primitiveness and barbarism of this era, as well as its hypocrisy.

They didn't understand it at that time, but now, more or less, they understand a little bit, under Lanse's explanation.

"We might not be very familiar with it yet, but I believe we will be familiar with it, and use it better."

"Since everyone is waiting for our performance, then let's show them our wonderful show!"

"Revenge—waiting one more day makes my heart suffer in the flames, so let's start now!"